TALLOWOOD, WOOLWORTHS, MOVIE, WSHOPS

No building on ridgeline! That"s what Commissioner Hussey at Land & Environment Court stipulated when he approved the Tallowood DA. Now Eric Freeman has entered another DA to undo that consent condition. He wants to put a concrete bikeway" 2.5m wide in the nature strip/wildlife corridor. This special strip of land which has mature native trees and a beautiful view of the valley was identified by Arakwal elder Yvonne Stewart (as I remember it) as being of Aboriginal heritage as a walking track, and thus should be preserved. The documents with this information are not available to view at Byron Shire Council unless you put in a special request which I have done. However, getting the document could take a week or two and the DA submissions close on TUESDAY 8 MARCH. Nearly a week has elapsed since my request. This is important information pertaining to the new DA so I shall request an extension of the submission date.

Tony Heath writes:

Our victory in gaining the nature strip however is now under threat of being
undermined by the new proposal that seeks to run a 2.5 metre concrete "service
vehicle access path" right along the entire length of the ridge. Also described
euphemistically in the DA as a "bikeway", this roads real purpose is actually to
provide vehicular access to block 25, (which is the first block along on the
ridge nearest to Tuckeroo Avenue) The plan submitted clearly shows this and
indeed the developers have obviously seen that this is the only way that they
can actually provide road access to this otherwise isolated block.
>
> Although no where nearly as intrusive as the originally planned road that
would have run right along the top of the ridge, I still believe we have many
reasons to be concerned:
>
> 1. This is a concrete road and will allow cars to drive right through our
precious fought for nature strip. This will change the aesthetics of the place
and is not in keeping with the intentions of what a nature strip should be.
Personally I would find a simple gravelled path acceptable, but with no car
access.
>
> 2. If my maths is correct we will be losing about 12.5% of our nature strip to
concrete. This is not acceptable.
>
> 3. If the purpose of this road is to allow vehicles to pass then consideration
would have to be given to cutting back of vegetation to keep the road clear, to
keeping large trees a safe distance from the road, removal of "dangerous trees"
and of trees that ma overhang the road etc. All of these actions will seriously
degrade and compromise our nature strip.
>
> 4. Car access could encourage illegal rubbish tipping and other illegal
activities. Perhaps street lighting may then be necessitated!

KOALAS SIGHTED AT TALLOWOOD

Resident adjoining Tallowood, April Pelmore, has sighted koalas  this nature strip is important habitat and the trees a crucial food supply for these threatened species.

Thanks also to Dave Rawlins for his work to preserve Tallowood habitat. Dave is currently in Sumatra helping the orangutan habitat restoration project. Locally he raised $6077 towards the project; replanting habitat trees and providing employment for local people undertaking revegetation and becoming forest wardens to prevent illegal activities from recurring. http://www.rainforestrescue.org.au/documents/Fact%20Sheet%20A3.pdf

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WOOLWORTHS MULLUMBIMBY: The building is nearing completion and the roof is on. It"s a gabled roof instead of the original shoebox flat roof, thanks to local man Luis Cristia whose computer generated images exposed the reality of the design to Council, community and the Wws spindoctors at the meeting in the Council Chambers on 14 May, 2008. We were all blown away by how different Luis"s images were from the mellow line of trees in the photo montage"that Wws were fobbing us off with. Luis"s power point presentation can still be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqK3qoCNKzE. More details and video from that passionate gathering at http://www.mullumaction.org/moviechannel/sect96meeting.html. Note photo of the late Milli O"Nair holding banner "Protect our Mullumbimby" with her mum, Tara. Vale, Milli.

WOOLWORTHS ON-SITE SEWAGE  Where is it? Hello, wasn"t that what all the fuss was about? Did Wws intend to build this, or was it just a ruse to jump the 12-year building moratorium in Mullum?

"I have cancelled my email subscription to Cellarmasters because of the
proposed acquisition by Woolworths, the ---------, most-----------
bankrupt company in Australia." (sorry about the deletions).

CUTE TRUCK "DELIVERING TO MULLUMBIMBY"

The above image on Wws site evoked a local"s response: "Apart from the fact that so far they're delivering nothing but traffic chaos, isn't it interesting that they've chosen to use a cute little truck. Can we get them for misrepresentation when the B-doubles start rolling into town?"

TODAY:

THE ECONOMICS OF HAPPINESS: Doco by Helena Norberg-Hodge
At Byron Bay Community Centre; 7 pm